Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) is one of the key policies requiring EU Member States to organise separate collection of textile waste as of 2025. EPR schemes are an important tool for reducing the environmental impact of textiles, promoting circularity and contributing to more efficient end-of-life management.

In order to implement EPR schemes effectively, a common understanding of a few key issues is needed:

• what are the current barriers to the widespread practice of circularity in textiles?
• what are the costs for the industry to transition towards a circular economy? 
• what are the necessary organisational changes?  

EPR should look beyond waste management costs that may support local or short-term needs, but are not geared towards the overarching objective of enabling circularity in line with the European Green Deal and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

The Horizon Europe project CISUTAC aims to remove current bottlenecks in textile management, increase the circular use of textiles in the EU and minimise the environmental impact of the sector. Within CISUTAC, partners are working on developing a shared approach to strategies for a more circular and sustainable EU textile sector. This approach will be based on an assessment of EU developments and national measures enabling circularity, and will cover ten key elements including waste prevention and reduction, product ecodesign, reuse and repair, green public procurement and consumer dimension.

The event will be an opportunity for a constructive dialogue between project partners, policy makers and other stakeholders on EPR, contributing to the policy debate on the recently published proposal for the revision of the Waste Framework Directive. 

Join the hybrid event EPR for circularity: towards a more sustainable EU textile sector on 29 November at 15:00 – 17:30 CET.

• Register here to attend online.